Cellist Sophie Shao returns to Chamber series

Renowned cellist Sophie Shao returns to the 2011-12 Union
College Concert Series with a rarely-performed program of all six Bach Cello
Suites at Memorial Chapel Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at 3 p.m.

The extended three-hour program with two intermissions will
include all six of Bach’s masterful cello suites first brought to the world’s
attention over 100 years ago by the legendary Pablo Casals. Shao will be performing on a cello once
owned and played by Casals and made by Honore Derazey. The program was last performed on the series 30 years ago by Anner Blysma.

A winner
of top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, Shao returns to
the series for a solo performance after her many Sophie Shao and Friends
appearances over the years. This season, she makes recital appearances in New
York, Philadelphia and Middlebury and will premiere a new concerto written for
her by legendary film composer Howard Shore with the American Symphony
Orchestra. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, she is an alumna of the
Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where she studied with David Soyer. She then pursued studies with Aldo Parisot,
receiving a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Yale College and a Master of Music degree from the
Yale School of Music.

Individual tickets are $20 per person. The campus community can attend for free. For information, call 388-6080 or go to the Concert Series website.